When publishing fairy tales, McLoughlin Bros. experimented with book design. The 1882 Pantomime Toy Books series used a metamorphic format, featuring pages of varying sizes that could be flipped to change the scene. The pages are framed by a theater proscenium, complete with musicians in the pit. Nearly a decade later, McLoughlin Bros. produced Cinderella as a shaped book, echoing the design of toy theaters popular at the time.